Each day for the rest of this week, we’ll be previewing one of this year’s Final Four participants, little gunners that they are. Ooops, we’re about to drop something. What? Knowledge. (That’s deep, but true.) But since we’re babbling idiots, we found another blogger who knows a lot more about the team than us. Today - The North Carolina Tar Heels, with the help of Brian from Tar Heel Fan.

You know, they’ve been overrated all season. They got bonked by a terrible Maryland team at home, and depantsed by a deeply flawed Duke team. And who cares that they blew out their first four opponents in the tournament? Two of those teams were barely mediocre, and every squirrel finds a nut. Maybe Pitino was drunk Saturday night. We’ll never know.

Ah, dammit, who are we kidding? We’ve said it before, so we might as well say it again (and again through clenched teeth) - Carolina has put on an absolute show during the first two weeks of the tournament, and comes in playing better basketball than any other amateur team in the land.

But that doesn’t mean much once the ball is tipped, and frankly we’re gonna feel weird saying anything else positive about our sworn enemy. So for a better bead on what to look for from the Tar Heels this weekend, we asked Tar Heel Fan for some expert biased opinion. His responses to our questions come after the jump.

First of all, it’s fair to say that Carolina dominated its first four opponents in the tournament, including a couple of teams that you probably didn’t expect to put away so easily. Any worry that karma is going to switch the tables on your guys?

I don’t do karma myself…it gives me a rash. As for UNC, I do not recall a tournament since the field went to 64/65 where UNC won their first four games by double digits. I have seen the offensive display we in Raleigh for two games before but in the regional rounds UNC usually sees tighter games. At this point they usually have that one game they were in actual danger of losing. That has not been the case so far in this tournament and I am unsure what to make of it.

Certainly, they are playing well but my greater concern is the weird game where things that have not been a problem all season all of sudden are a problem: Hansbrough getting three fouls in the first half, or Roy putting Marc Campbell in at point for any reason other than a 30 point lead. I guess what some folks might call that karma, I tend to think of as a general choke job.

Speaking of karma - on a scale of 1 to 10, where do you rank the (a) karma implications and (b) actual importance of the Heels facing Roy Williams’ former team, Kansas?

Less then zero on both. Again, no karma for me, and since none of the players or coaches at Kansas were there when Roy was coaching in Lawrence, it is largely a Kansas fan issue. Now if you want to talk about the fact we stole Dean Smith from them, you might be on to something.

We’re not sure any Carolina player can truly go under the radar, but Tyler Hansbrough’s stardom has certainly absorbed some of the attention that would otherwise go to other players. Who is the most underrated member of this Tar Heel squad?

I’d like to think Danny Green, even though he gets called the best sixth man in the ACC on a regular basis. However, he seems to be forgotten by the opposing coach at various points this season. Tony Bennett certainly did not pay much attention to him, and he scorched Washington State when he came into that game. Marcus Ginyard only gets credit for his defense, but against Louisville he had some rebounds and putbacks that helped UNC build their early lead.

This Carolina squad is led by a couple of players who probably could have gone pro earlier - and, now that we think about it, it really seems that Roy Williams’ squads (both at UNC and Kansas) have avoided the “one and done” players that seem to populate a lot of your peer programs. How do you think UNC has weathered this trend, and kept its players (and team leaders) in school for at least three years?

It has not been wholly avoided since Brandan Wright left after one year and Marvin Williams did the same in 2005. (Ed. - Oops. We have the memory of a gnat.) I think Roy has decided to recruit guys up and down the spectrum to create a mix of good and elite players. Players like Ginyard, Green, Alex Stepheson and Deon Thompson provide a good foundational base and fill roles with the Ty Lawson’s and Wayne Ellington’s coming in for 2 years and giving them the talent edge to put them over the top.

In the case of Tyler Hansbrough, I think he is simply the perfect storm of being (a) a tremendous college player from day one with (b) a lower NBA upside that keeps him in school. Add to that the fact his home situation does not push him to go after the money as readily as some others feel the need to do.

Announcers like to say that teams “need to play their game” to win. First of all, is that true for the Tar Heels, or can they adapt to another team’s style? If it is, what exactly is Carolina’s game?

Run, run, run. Roy likes for his teams to push the ball as fast as possible. In fact he was on record last season as saying he wanted 100 possessions per game which is simply insane when you consider they scored 108 on Arkansas with less than 70. Because all the players run the floor so well, it pays for UNC to be out there pushing the basketball. I also think as much as UNC’s defense is maligned, the up-tempo actually is part of that since it throws teams out of sync trying to defend a running team which leads to tired legs.

In terms of playing alternate styles, the Washington State game in the Sweet Sixteen should have put the notion that UNC is only great when they run to rest. The media hype heading into that game was all about how UNC would struggle with the WSU tempo and defense. As it turns out UNC plays some good defense themselves and the tempo was just fine. The same thing was then said about UNC having to handle the way Louisville played and that turned out to be far less daunting than the media hype made it sound.

Fill in the blank - If the offense is balanced between Hansbrough and the outside shooting in the first half, I’ll be confident that Carolina is going to beat Kansas.

Fill in the blank - If Ellington and Green fail to get off the bus in the first half, I’ll be extremely worried.

Finally, just how many first born children has Chapel Hill sacrificed to feed Pyscho T and keep him off the streets the last three years? (Sorry - we couldn’t resist.)

You see, right there is why bloggers have a bad name - you spread false information and rumor that you probably picked up off some Duke message board. I know for a fact not a single child has been harmed to appease Tyler Hansbrough. The truth is he prefers live puppies, preferably from some type of large breed.

Sorry, pup.